Jon “Bones” Jones is the greatest of all time.
His stature as the greatest martial artist in history was beyond doubt when he destroyed Stipe Miocic on Saturday night, who is still considered the most prominent figure in the UFC heavyweight.
With his 20th consecutive victory, Jones finished with a third-round knockout of Miocic at Madison Square Garden to the applause of thousands of fans, including President-elect Donald Trump, who attended the UFC 309 event along with several of the new members of his future government cabinet.
“He’s very, very good,” Jones said of Miocic after the fight.
“It is very resistant. I was landing some pretty hard blows on him, but he kept moving forward. It was like fighting the Terminator. It’s very, very discouraging to hit someone who doesn’t react. But that body blow, no matter how hard you are, the liver is the liver.”
And so it was because after dominating from start to finish, Jones fired a spinning kick to Miocic’s liver that made him double over in pain and was the beginning of the end, before the champion unleashed a ground and pound attack that forced the referee to stop actions.
Without a doubt, Jones had complete control of the fight from the opening stages and in the same first round he achieved a brilliant takedown with a judo movement before delivering a strong punishment to Miocic, who barely survived to advance to the next round.
Miocic was able to resist the disaster of the first round, but things did not improve much because he looked old and tired, and his 42 years weighed more than ever against a faster Jones with a sharper attack, scoring impacts from different angles and with a high dose of body kicks.
With absolute control of the fight, Jones unleashed a spinning back kick that landed on Miocic’s ribs and dropped the former champion to the canvas, never to recover again and being helpless before the rain of blows from the defending king.
“Cheers to the winning man. I’m done,” Miocic said, confirming the end of his long and meritorious career in the octagon, which will be adorned with a future induction into the UFC Hall of Fame.
“I’m going to hang up my gloves.”
As for Jones, another novel is now beginning, since it is not known if he maintains his desire to face Alex Pereira in a super-lucrative fight or has changed his mind and is willing to face Tom Aspinall, the interim champion of the category.
“As for my future in the Octagon, I’ve decided that maybe I’m not going to retire,” Jones said cryptically.
“I’ll have some conversations with Dana [White] y Hunter [Campbell]. I have some negotiations to do and maybe we’ll give them what they want to see. I know we have options. “I’m going to see what Dana and Hunter want and they’ll have news soon.”
